What happened to the puppies?

OK, I've not been a good blogger and this isn't the first time, either. I keep saying I'm going to do better and who knows, maybe I will be this time. Those little tiny pups have grown to be very big Bolognese. I have three boys left and they are 13-15 lbs. Believe it or not. Their mother is 15 lbs and their father is 11 lbs, so it's no wonder they are big. But this seems - well it's bigger than we expected. They are so funny, these pups I have left. They are 6.5 months old. They all think they're lap dogs and the biggest one climbs into my lap as often as he can. But I think I should advertise them now because although I've been enjoying them, they really need to go. Next week we should be getting Allegra, our pregnant female. She's due March 6 and I hope to get her here in time for her to settle in before she has her litter. With the winter storms I hope she isn't delayed again.

The renovations continue. I can't believe it's still going on. Right now the kitchen is almost done. The laundry room is next and then we'll stop for awhile. Ran out of money. :)

Puppies are growing!

Yes, the puppies are gaining an ounce a day. That gets them big pretty quick. Yesterday 5 of them had their eyes open. They were a little bit sloth-like for awhile, but that has changed. As best they can, they are running around the whelping box. They can get their feet underneath themselves but they can't straighten out their legs. However they manage, they are getting good at speeding to mom for lunch. I know Gracie is not going to clean them up for much longer. I don't think they can see much yet, and it appears they can't hear yet, either. It won't be long though and they already make plenty of noise.

Our new stud

Is he cute or what? He should be here in a couple of weeks. He's coming from Colorado from Melissa Scheetz. He's tiny. He weighed 1.5 lbs at 5 weeks. My pups, who are two weeks old today - well, three of them are already about a pound and a half. So this pup will have playmates! They will be just as cute, but they will grow much larger than this cutie pie. I haven't chosen a name for him yet. Any suggestions?

Gracie is being a terrific mom

Yes, Gracie is definitely a very caring and smart mother. She has been staying in the whelping area with her puppies almost all the time. No need (yet anyway) to worry about her abandoning her puppies. I'm very concerned about eclampsia. She had it last year and almost died. We caught it later than I would have liked to. This year I started out giving her calcium right away. However, she had diarrhea and I thought the calcium probably wasn't helping any, so I stopped giving it to her. Instead, I've been giving her all the raw meat and bones she wants. She loves chicken necks and lamb steak and riblets. Maybe I should start giving her calcium again. The second week seems to be the time when eclampsia usually hits. So far she's frisky and strong. Her babies are growing like weeds. Truly. The largest (Purple) is now one pound. Already!! Other than changing the bedding and weighing the puppies, there is nothing much for me to do except to keep Gracie happy. She's actually an amazing mother. One day Gracie was coming through the house to go outside and Punky met her half way. Gracie broadsided her so she couldn't get any closer to the pups. Quite a move by Gracie to stop a dog who is totally fixated on her babies on the computer monitor.

Kiska the Bolonka

I keep forgetting to mention my little girl Kiska. She will be having puppies next year if all goes well. She's full of the devil and she's smart. Which doesn't make a bad combination. Being smart, she isi easy to train. Oh that I had time to do more of that! I'm wondering if I could show her. She walks good on a leash but I don't know how she would do with people coming up and looking at her teeth. Plus, she collapses on the table if she doesn't want to stand up. I don't know. Maybe that could be overcome. On the other hand, maybe I should try that with somebody who will stand up for awhile.

Yes, they are here. On day 63.

Gracie and her babies proved me wrong. I kept saying NO WAY will she go that long. Small dogs don't, and she didn't last time. I kept thinking that those babies were growing by the minute and I just hoped they didn't get too big for her to be able to handle it by herself. Please.

On July 16th at 3:20 a.m. Gracie had her first pup (Red) in a brand new plush dog bed on the floor of our bedroom. I had stayed up until 1:30 waiting. I knew she would be starting labour any minute. But finally I thought I'd better get some sleep in case she had them in the morning. Wouldn't you know. Her next 5 puppies were born in the whelping box. Again, 4 boys and 2 girls. No problems. However, she had some big pups. I suspected she would, but it's another thing to see these guys. The first pup was 5 oz, which is what I would consider a good size. That's just because in my limited experience 6 oz has been the biggest pup we've had, including Gracie's litter from last summer. Here's their weights at birth and today, in ounces:

• Red 5.2/8.4
• Orange 7.3/6.6 - she dropped to 6.3 so at least she's showing a bit of an increase
• Yellow 6.9/8.9
• Blue 5.1/6.3 - that's what she was yesterday. Gotta watch these girls (Orange is a girl too)
• Green 6.8/8.3
• Purple 9.3/10.2

I think the boys are hogging the nipples. I worked at getting Blue in on the action yesterday and she gained. I guess I'd better keep doing that for her and for Orange as well. They don't have to be hogs, just given an opportunity to have what they need.

Of course Punky is now whining in the direction of the house where Gracie is, and she's getting absolutely annoying about wanting to see the puppies on my computer screen. I finally even put a bed on my desk but she won't stay in it. She wants to go back and forth from one screen to the other. This is how kids get spoiled. Give them attention for something 'cute', not thinking that some day that 'cute' behaviour is not going to be so 'cute' anymore. In fact, it's annoying!!

Gracie in waiting

Gracie is in waiting. Yep, all she does is wait. She waits in the whelping box, she waits under the chair in the kitchen, and she waits on the bathroom floor when it gets too hot. She seems to know what the whelping box is for and chooses to go in there now. Her belly is HUGE. The picture shows her from the top and that's pretty big. She looks even more huge in the other direction. Friday is Day 63, which is the average time for canine babies to go from insemination to birth. Smaller dogs often do not go that long. Gracie didn't go that long with her first litter. Her breathing is affected. Her mobility is affected. Should that be effected? I was only trained to be an English teacher but I never could remember which was which except maybe for a few days before a test.

My granddaughter Remi came over for two days to wait for puppies. Now her social life calls so she's gone forever, or at least for awhile. I told her to bring a friend next time. More fun going to the beach and walking through the forest when you have a friend with you. Oh, maybe except when you're a mom and are seeking solitude. You get that in these woods. But you can't rely on that too much because in addition to the deer and racoons and chipmunks, squirrels and such, there is at least one bear. He was sighted recently. Before that he visited my son's place. At night and behind the fence. He thought it was a bear and I told him I didn't think there were any bears around here. I hadn't heard of any. A couple of days later the local paper came around and guess what - there was a report of a bear sighting right in our neighbourhood. Brad's place backs on to the forest, so my guess is he really did hear the bear at his place. Better not let the little white dogs out at night!

At any rate, we are all waiting for the pups. I think Gracie and Punky are the only dogs who know what's happening. Punky is totally convinced. She is still interested in the dog video and dog pictures. However, now she will watch anything. Videos, pictures. Let's face it - she will watch anything that moves. She will follow my cursor. Right now she is up at the monitors and staring at the baby bolognese in the picture on one screen while she turns and noses this message as I type it. I've decided just to give it up and put a dog bed on my desk. Right in front of the monitors. Watching the still pictures - no movement necessary, turns out. Beats listening to all that whining.